
Gass H "6 2-3 1 



Book 'G< ly 



/^ 



\^, 



Le8rt(lStive''Ffeterence Qivision 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
WASHINGTON 



^7 



HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS OF PRICE REGULATION. 
■ <0)«, vS.j Jifl/f^MUOOK I / \ 



^ 



s 






LIBRARY OF C0H3r<tSS 
DECEIVED 

MAR201923 
DOCUMENTS D. Vision 



BiBTLOIIAI. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
WASHINGTON 



Legislative Reference Division 

HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS of PRICE REGULATION. 

laty Ionia. Tha code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon gires several 

■250 B.C. instances of the regulation of wages and of the payment for win* 

in grain. 

The Code of Eammurabi, JCinrt of Babylon 
about 2250 B.C. 

If a wine-seller do not receive ,^rain as the price of drink, but if 

/ 
she receive money by the ?reat stone, or make the measure fori^irink smaller 

than the measure for com, they shall call that wine-seller to account, 

and they shall throw her into the water. 

If a boatman build a boat of 60 Gur for a man, he shall give to him 
two shekels of silver as his wage< 

If a man hire a field-laborer, he shall pay him 8 Gur of grain per year. 

If a man hire a herdsnan, he shall pay hie 6 Gur of grain per year. 

If a man hire an ox to thresh, 20 KA of grain i^^ts hire. 

If he hire an ass to thresh, lOKA of f^rain is its hire. 

If he hire a young animal (goat) to thresh, 1 KA of grain is its hire. 
Harper, Robert Francis. The Code of Hananurabi. p. 37, 83, 89, 93. 



11 



E07P¥IAH. 



Ancient In ancient Egypt under the new Empire 1530-1050 B.C. In 

Egpyt. 
15IC-1050 tha capital the last appeal, even in teapel cases, was to the governor. 



B.C. 



who ranked even above the high priest. When the labourers were unable 

to get their corn delivered to them at the ridit time, after exhausting 

all other resources, they appealed to him. 

"The office of 'superintendent of the granaries' was especially 

important, for in spite of all conquests emd tributes, the raal wealth 

of Egypt lay in the produce of corn. The 'superintendent of the gransries' 

had to take care that this was plenteous, that it sh^ild suffice for the 

maintenance of all the officials, soldiers, and serfs; he had to control 

smd to demand rioh supplies from the 'superintendents of the estates of 

Pharoh and the chief officials of the south and the north, from the 

miserable land of Ethiopia to the confines of the country of Naharina,'" 

Erman, Adolf. (Tr. H.M. Tirand.) Life in Ancient Egypt. 1894. 
p. 107-108. 



mae 



,:t.t«ti;vS.sA.<:. li;*o i. 






s«j,jeeqq 



ifc^lA'?" 



•elTMSfisTia 



..'3 8|-l3«iErp£!03 IXfi lO ^ttff 



^drajutio-qcti 



',to aj'o.-'i' 



Tr«fe»i'«iieiJi3«'' i»M R:. 






HIHBD (MANU) 



f\ 



LIBRARY OF ^ONGRESS 
WASHJNGTON 



Legislative Reference Division 

From; Buhler^ 3-3org. 
Edited by :^llar, F.Max. 
18S6. vol. 25, p. 324. 

"Let (the king) fix (the rates for) the purchase and sale of all 
marketable goods, having (duly) considered whence they come, whither they 
go, how long they have been kept, the (probable) profit and the (probable) 
outlay. 

"Once in five nights, or at the close of each fortnight, let the 
king publicly settle the prices for the (merchants)," 



Frcrn: Encyclopaedia Eritannica, 
Eleventh edition. 

The Law3 of Uanu. 

"The Hindu law is in theory of devine origin, and therefore 
unchanged by human authority. ... ask a Hindu where his law is to be found 
and he will reply, 'In the Shasters.' The Shaaters ar& books supposed to 
be devinsly .inspired, and all of grsat antiquity. ... 

"Of these by far the first in importance, as well as the first 
in date, is the one which we call the Laws of Manu. ... Only about one 
fourth of the book deals with matters which we should call le^l, the rest 
being concerned with topics either purely religious or cereiiionial. ... 

"Very little is known as to the date of the Laws of liantt. They 
are probably much older than their present form, which Buhler places some- 
where between 200 B.C. and A.D.2C0." 



333HOM0^.10 YHAnaiJ 
l1OTi0VllH8AW 



Iz'i-^txbiio:! (•■■luL^ 



j'tafi svUslsl 









maidnaoo anise 



ATHENIAR. 



. Of » "~ '■~'€^ijr. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
WASHINGTON 



Legislative Reference Division 




Q 



In Athenian coranercial legislation, laws having to do with 
trade in cereals occupied an important place. A college or organized 
body of officials, the sitophylacs [lit. "food-watchers" or "food- 
guardians"] » was especially charged with supeirvising this trade; for 
all other classes of merchandise there was a different set of officials, 
the agoranomoi. In addition note should be made of a third body of 

, officials whose title smd function (as trade inspectors) were at least 
nominally more inclusive, but who were particularly coireemed with 
cereals* The college of sitophylacs is of indefinitely ancient origin, 
but we know that their number was increased in the time of Aristotle, 
during the fourth centurj' B. C, This change made the whole number, 
%^\ chosen by lot, 20 for Athens proper and five for the Piraeus. The trade 

r*!*'^ "t^nspectors date only from the second half of the fourth century B. C. 



-^ 



The law of v;hich we have the most ancient witness is one 
forbidding monopoly and restricting the amount of grain which dealers 
might purchase at a given time; it was a duty of the sitophylacs to 
secure observance for this law. Regulation of prices was another essential 
function of these officials. It is a matter of doubt whether the 
prohibition upon purchasing more than a prescribed amount of grain was 
enforced ver^' long. 



ktb 



;OMOO ^O YRAOaU 
.OTjOmH3AW 



noiaiviO aaneiaYaR aviJeiai 

<nox*j»Xala©X Xisiarjacnaioo a&ta@d&A nl 

-^iy^eauB ili'iw besisrio x-J^lBissqee aaw « C'*enfijcfrxatf j, 
3X313x110 '^-taie^li nsrio-ieai Ito aeseisXo isrijo XX-: 

iassl &i: ■iOB ©Xti* ©eoriw elsial'J^o 

5«:.^.r:'> :^!•■'■^ : '^i ^o el esflXifri'/- , . 

-sX silT 



There was a law requiring two-thirds of all grain landed 
at the Piraeus to be brought to Athens. Among similar laws was one 
forbidding any resident of Athens to transport grain beyond the Piraeus. 
Efforts we^e^made, according to a law of doubtful authenticity, to 
condition bottomry loans upon the use of ships for bringing grain and 
other articles of prime necessity to Athens. 

As to the motive and procedure attending the above-mentioned 
laws, it would appear that wholesale merchsmts were not prosecuted under 
them so much because of dreaded famine as because the general economic 
interests of the city were thought to be concerned. In particular, the 
Athenians, having Greek commerce largely in their hands, wished to 
concentrate a fair proportion at the Piraeus. Among further benefits 
was an increased return from the duty on exports and imports; for grain 
formed no exception to the rule that everything coming in or going out 
must pay tax. 

Here it may be noted that public prosecution did not furnish 
the only recourse. According to Demosthenes (in Against Lacritus), one 
might simply take advantage of a section declaring void every transaction 
in violation of the law. 

But Athens did not tyrannize over her commerce, for it was 
essential to her greatest enrichment that commerce should be free. This 
idea we find reflected in the conception of the normal price, and even 
the legislation above noted affirms it. The sitophylacs had to see that 
grain was sold at "a fair price," in the agora, or market place. But 
nowhere do we find evidence of any attempt to establish a maximum price; 

ktb 



»b«HI,.en8V/ Spoils 



the theory was that there should be a proper relation between the 

price on the city market and the price fixed by international ooinmerce, 

as also between the price of the grain axii that of the flour, and 

between the price of the flour and that of the bread. This function 

of the eitophylacs is classed by Aristotle along with detemination 

and inspection of weights and measures in the grain and flour trades. 

Thus the city regulated conmerce; she did not put herself in its place. 

But finally commerce did become absorbed into the city as 

an eeonofflic unity. The dealers in grain began to regard themselTes 

as public functionaries; evil days befell; sales were made at a low 

price, and free distribution (in the earlier periods only occasional) 

came to be relied upon more and more. 

Extracted from: 

Gernet, L. L'approvisiornernent d'Athenes 
en ble au Ve et au Vie siecles. In, Melanges 
d'histoire ajncierne. Univ. de Paris, biblio- 
theque de la faculte des lettres. Paris, 1909. 
V. 25. p. 264-385. 



ktb 



f 



Greece (Athenia) 

State regulation of the grain trade. 
(Lysias xxii against the grain dealers) 

State regulations to control the supply of imported grain were 

oade in Athens to prevent the cornering of the narket and the siaking of 

unreasonable profits by the dealers. The maximum profit per measure was 

fixed as well as the amount a person might purchase. A board of grain 

Inspectors nas craated to enforce these regulations, violations of which 

might be punished by death. These steps were considered necessary since 

the country did not product sufficient grain for its support. (See: Shot> 

well, Jaaas T. Records of Civilisation. 1915. p. 426. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
WASHINGTON 



Legislative Reference Division 



Boeckh, Augustus. The Pvsblio rcono;ny of 
the Athenians. Boaton, 1857, r. 115-117; 
1-21-123. 



In order to pravent, as nuch as possibloi the accumulation of 
gr iln, and tho withholding it from sale, forestalling it was confined 
within very narrow bounds. It v/as not allowed to buy at one tiraH more 
than fifty back-loiids. The transgression of thitj law watj runlsshed \ ith 
death, Th« r^rain deulors were also not perasitted to noil the mediranus 
of f',rain at a hiffher price than one obolus more thun thay h'Ad palrJ for 
it. These deulora, v.ho \/eco coiiunonly alions umdor tho orotoction of the 
Htato, enhanced the price, notwithstanding, by overbidding others in the 
I'urchaae of grain in tiiaaa of scarcity, and thoy often sold it tht* aame 
day on v/hich they purchased it at an advance of a drachma or the medimnus* 
Lyaias cannot relate paxtioulars enough rosspecting the profligacy of f-ese 
extortioners. They vore hated full as much as the same class are in 
modern times. A good ptirt of this hatred must be ascribed to the ooinior 
prejudice against freedom of trade. "They buy up grain," it is naid, 
"under the oretence of c iring for thw pMV)lic welfare, or of having a 
comfflisqion from the m^tgist rates. But when a v/ar-tax is iiiijiosed, their 
pretended public spirit in not imintained. They «?ain by the public 
calamities. They are so well pleased v/ith thea, that thoy have the first 



883HaMOO '=10 YflAHSU 
HOTOMIHeAW 



news of them, or even invent news, as, for instance, that the ships 
in the Pontus have been taken or destroyed, that ports are closed, that 
treaties are revoked. Even when the enemy are quiet, they harass the citizen 
by accumulating grain in their storehouses, and by refusing to sell in 
times of the s;reategt scarcity, in order that the citizens may not dispute 
with them about thu price, but niay be glad to procure grain at any price. 
Not even did the retailers obtain any advantage throuf>;h these grain dealers, 
as is especially asserted, in favor of forestalling, by the teachers of 
political economy, that they do at the present day. On the contrary, they 
suffered from the business, and the conspiracies of the grain dealers, by 
whom they were even persecuted. Were they not menaced with the punishment 
of death, says Lysias, they woul^ hardly be endurable. While the 
agoranemi had the sunerintendence of the sale of all other commodities, the 
state, in order to prevent the extortion of the grain dealers, appointed a 
particular boly of officers called the sitophylaces, to have the oversight 
of this single business. At first it consisted of three men, afterward 
of ten in the city, and five in the Piraeus, probably because their duties 
were increased. They kept accounts of the grain imported, and beside the 
oversight of grain, they had also the inspection of meal and bread, that 
they might be sold according to legal weight and price. But the sitophylaces 
themselves, could not sometimes prevent the irischief of overbidding on the 
part of forestallers, and they were therefore condemned to undergo the most 
extreme punishments, even death itself; so that one shudders both at the 
disorder in the execution of the laws respecting grain, and at their terrible 



ktb 



severity. Still; more injurious v;ere the speculations of the merchants, 
who, as Xenophon remarks, obtained grain wherever they could procure it, 
but did not, convey it to the first Convenient place, but to the one where 
they had ascertained that it was clearest. Andocides mentions a plot 
devised to '^ive the Cyprian fleet of vessels conveying grain, vhich was 
bound to Athens, another lirection. He cor.vpeiled +he devisers of the plot, 
however, to abandon their design. 
•*• 

Moreover, Athens had also public storehouses for grain in the Odeum, 
the Pompeum, the long Portico, and in the dock-yards, where grain, bread, 
and the like, were sold to the people. It is not, however, perfectly clear, 
whether the r.rain stored in them, belonged to the state alone, or whether 
the grain of the dealers, also, y-as sold and measured out there. The 
last was certainly the fact in particular instances. It is also certain, 
that considerable supplies of grain were purchased at the cost of the state, 
which must have been deposited in those storehouses. This grain was 
purchased in part v.ith the revenues of the stute, in part by voluntary con- 
tributions. A merchant, named Charysippus, boasted that he, together with his 
brother, had given a talent for that purpose, and Demosthenes presented the 
same amount. To make the purchases of grain, officers were appointed, called 
sitonae. Their office was not an unimportant one, since to obtain it 
evinced the possession of the especial confidence of the people. There were 
also other officers appointed, called apodectae, v.'ho received the grain, md 
caused it to be measured. Demosthenes once held the former office, and 
probably at that time he gave the voluntary contribution. Of course, 

ktb 



grain was sold to the people at a very lov; price. Otherv-iee voluntary 
contributions would not havu been necessary. Perhaps the grain, rhich 
had been bought, was sometiioes given to the people gratuitously; for to 
give a decided opinion in relation to this point, in the failure of 
adequate accounts, is in^^ossible. Even where one would suppose that there 
was a reliable account to that effect, the indef initenesa of the exr>ression, 
and the difficulty of its explanation, oppose invincible obstacles. Thus 
Demosthenes relates, in his speech against Leptines, that two years before 
the time at which he was speaking, at a period of scarcity of grain, Loueon 
haui sent so large a quantity, and at so lov/ a price, that there remained 
a residue of fifteen talents, of which Callisthenes had the management. But 
it may be disputed whether the residue is meant in the sense in which the 
corcmentators suppose, namely, that these fifteen talents, which were a part 
of the money appropriated for the purchase of grain, had not been used, 
or . hether they remained as a cle:ir ^ain to the state after the sale of the 
grain, because it vms bought at so low a price. To this consignment of grain, 
moreover, the account of Strabo, v/hich must h.ive related to some definite 
period, is with probability referred, n;iniely, that Leucon sent 2,100,000 
medimni of grain from Theudosia to the Athenians. And it is conceivable 
that this amount may have been sent in one ye\r. For since Attica, according 
to our supposition, needed annually 3,400,000 mediirini, of v.hich in general it 
could itself produce 2,400,000, only about the half of that amount might 
prob;ably in an unfruitful se.ison have been produced in it, and since the other 
grain-producing countries, on account of the general scrircity, might have 
furnished none, Leucon might aliooat alone have supplied the deficiency. 



Agoranomoi were police authorities in many Greek cities from 
the four century B.C. to the third A«D. AmoriT their functions in 
Athens was inspection of goods offered for sale, both aa to quantity 
and quality. They inspected weights and measures with equal care. 

Source: 

Pauly, August Friedrich von. Real-Encyclopadie der 

classischen altertumsivissenschaft . Stattgart, 1894. 
p. 883-886. 



ktb 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
WASHrNGTON 



Legisfative Reference Division 

Fron;: Kenyon, F.G. Aristotla on 
the Athenian Constitution. London, 
1901. p. 93. 



Market Cominiss loners [Agoranomi] are elected by lot, 
five for Piraeus, five for the city. The duty assigned to them by 
law is to see that all articles offered for sale in the rarkst are 
pure and unadulterated. 

Comniissioners of ?eights and Ueas^ares [I'etronomi] are 
elected by lot, five for the city, and five for Piraeus, They see that 
sellers -use fair weights and measures. 

Foncerly there were five Corn Comrtissioners [Sitophy laces], 
elected by lot, for Piraeus, and five for the city; but now there are 
twenty for the city and fifteen for Piraeus. Their duties are, first, 
to see that the unprepared corn in the market is offered for sale at 
reasonable prices, and secondly to see that the millers sell barley 
meal at a price proportionate to that of barley, and that the bakers 
sell their loaves at a price proportionate to that of wheat, and of such 
weight as the Commissioners may appoint; for the law requires them to 
fix the standard wei^t. 

There are ten Superintendents of the Mart, elected by lot, 
whose duty is to superintend the' Mart, and to compel merchants to bring 
up into the city two-thirds of the corn which ia brought by sea to the 



MOTOMIHSAW 



1 
Corn Mart. 



1. This is the reading of the MS.^ but it is possible that we should 

substitute for it the word by Harpocration, who quotes the sontence 
with ths variation "Attic Mart" for "Corn Marti' The nase "Attic Mart" 
is found in Demosthenes as an official desii:nation of Piraeua. Another 
authority which quotss the passage gives the nar.e as the "City Mart," 



I 



m 



n 



'M 



I''- 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
WASHINGTON 



Legislative Reference Division 



Froa; Adams, Charles Darwin. 
Ljsiaa^ Selected beeches, 
c. 2XII. p. 213-217. 



Agalnat the Grain Dealer a. 

This speech was written for a senator who was leading the 
prosecution of certain retail grain dealers, on the charge that, by buy- 
ing ufi a larger stock of grain than the law peroitted, they had injiured 
the inporters, and raised the price of grain to the consomers. It was 
probably delivered early in 386. 

The successful expedition of Thrasybulus in 389/8 bad brought 
the Hellespont under Athenian control, and thus secured the safety of the 
grain trade> which had been harassed by hostile fleete. But his death and 
the transfer of the eoaoand into less coapetent hands nade the control of 
the Hellespont insecure a^in. At the same tlae the Spartans, having dis» 
lodged the Athenians from Aegina, were able constantly to endanger the grain 
ships at the hone end of the route. The result was a period of unusual dis- 
turbance in the grain trade in the winter of 388/7. 

1. The speech falls at a time when the aceeptamce of peace is in doubt (§14), 
The conspiracy fell in the winter before (§8). The air has been full of 
rumors of interference with the ia^orts (§14). All of this fits the 
winter of 38^7 for the disturbance of trade, and the beginning of 
386 for the spsech, so closely that there can be little doubt of the 
dating. 



aae 



iicAs'iQaJ 



.airxja BeA'Vi.^:.;:^! ^•;;i:»i;,fi t»o-fiL 



-xud ^(f 4J'£di^ «s'^Add e^^ ^o 4«it«il£id^ ixis^ Xl^^oi olMttBO lo aoiitn^sotq 
teiKint bad ^^dir ^b9Sti«%9q wa£ tsif nmli aJtsrvB ^o Hfioirn 'S€>s'S«X « ^ gfli 

.d88 at xX'UBo j>«nevlx«£ tXcf£do'xq 
tstguond bed &\Q8t al mZu€xesvif to nolififeeqxe XvieceovM edT 
«iit !^o x^«)As edt fieii/ses smit ban ^Xoi^aos i»l£ei^A i«t>fitf ixioqselXeH erfi^ 
ixij* ji&se6 eJtd ^i}8 .a^eeXl •tlttoA t^ b08ci«<i£d: xioed bsA dtldv ^tibtnt atsn^ 
to lontttoo t^i 8»<e« Bibojed tae^eqpoo mvX oifoi ^njacsoo eiid* to i^lBaent edt 
«>»i£i s«^T«si{ 4tfi«tnjsq[3 exO^ 9«Xi «i!T«e edJ* M ,aJt^£ e'UfsesnX ^Aot^soXXeH «rit 

"Vib Imut&me Ic bo^t'^eq a e«r tXjueet «ifT .«i^M>rc 9d& lo facte wod eiit tJi a^ids 

.v\&8e lo 'lo^i-aiv edt cl ei>£rs^ otisns edt at ^nasfStut 



.(i^X$) tdtfoib el Hi eojMq lo esofi^qesoje erit asdm tmtt a ta eXX«t dseeqe odT .X 

lo XXtf! ' 7 ' tte ©dT .(8^) ©•sol«d "Sfc^aiw •o;J^ isi XXeS to«TiQ6aoo adl 

*d* : ^0 XX& .(W?) »i"X0(jal 6d,t n'JXw ecaeieiiei-nl lo enoffiin 

lo ^^l'^ul-l;i^^ erit fcna »»fcin* So eoaBU^nxstBle od* lot T\^8e io rte;tBiw 

«0'^ lo ;fcft.<ofa eli^&li ed a^d srt«d^ ^joffit- '^leeoXo oet ^doeeqs od^ rxol dSS 






Tho retail dealers were bidding one against another for the 
Halted stock ot grain In the hands of the in^orters, thus raising the 
price of bread* 

One of the Coamlss loners of (k>aln now aulTlsed the retailers 
to font a coablnation to keep down the wholesale price. The la^orters 
haid to sell; they were forbidden by law to store 19 aore than one third 
of any oargo; two thirds had to be thrown upon the narket ionediately* 
If^ tben^ a sufficient eonbinatloa could be aade aaoag the retail dealers, 
they could hold -the price down effectively. 

In accordance with this aid vice a ring was foraed^ but Instead of 
passing the grain on to the consumers at a fair profit, the retailers used 
the low price to increase the stock of grain in their own storerooos, and 
put the retail price up according to the war ruoors of the hour. The sane 
practice was repeated in the following winter (§9). 

When the facts of this coiablnatlon became known, infornation was 
lodged before the Prytanes, the business coamlttee of the Senate, probably 
by soae of the iaporters. The retail dealers had wlolated no law either in 

combining on the baying price, or (probably) in exacting an exorbitant 

2 
profit on retail sales, but there was a law which forbade any retailer 



1. See the quotation from Aristotle, below, 

2. See on §6. The piirpose of the law restricting the retailers to fifty 

baskets must have bsen to prevent their raising the retail price 
by cornering the aarket. But if the law fixed the retail price at a 
definite advance on the wholesale price, no accumulation of grain 
by the retailers could have raised It. 






•■^l-'^Limo'Q fiiHr lo fefcv 



^iTiiifJ. irii^ :>■*•' 



.%<.i^i£iii0aii}9 ittmiUXll- 



i>Ad 



iOft xn''^ 



■iu rnimkx. 



srttHJWf Cfl^ ,,660-: 



T^Ul (^ 






^^^ 

<• 



to buy aore than fifty baskets at any one tlae; in their greed they 
had ignored this law, and throu^ this it vas possible to attack them, 

then the Prytanes brou^it the coaplaint before the Senate, the 
senators were so aroused that sose were ready to order the constables 
to arrest and execute the accused forthwith. But one of the senators, pro- 
testing against condeamation without trial, persuaded tbes to follow the 
leg^ procedure (§2). This would be for the Senate to giro the accused 

a hearing, and if the charges were sustained, to pass the case on to a 

3 
law court. 

The opinion of this senator prevailed, and at a subsequent 
session of the Senate the dealers were exaained. The senator by whose 

influence the orderly procedure hB4 been adopted was the only one of the 

3 
senators who at this session pressed the case against then (§3), 

The Senate found the charges sustained, and sent the case to a 

4 
court under the presidency of the Thessothetae. 

The senator who had becoite so proftinent in the prosecution 

felt obliged to carry the case throu^H otherwise he would have been be* 

lleved to have been bought off by the "ring,* Be accordingly employed Lysias 

1. 5§ 5,6. 

2. The Senate had final Jurisdiction only in case of penalties not greater than 

a fine of 500 dr. ([Demos.] 47. 43); in all other }udloial cases their 
findings bad to be passed on to a law court for final action. Arist. 
Resp. Ath. 45.1. 

3. The threatening of suits a^inst rich aen had becoae so conbon on the part 

of professional blackaailers that reputable sen were loath to have any- 
thing to do with a case like this(cp, §1). 

4. For the course in such cases, see Arist. Resp. Ath. I.e. 



■ 'tern easor. 









jrp^ 



-to prepare a speech for hia to deliver In cowt, 

A study of this ease isTclves a knowledge of the Atheoian laws 
relating to coDnerce. 

The ssall area of the Attic territory in proportion to popula- 
tion, and the poor adaptedness of the soil to ^ain production as con^ared 
with that of olives asA f Igs, left the people largely dependent upon foreign 

sources for their grain. More than half of the supply came from foreign 

1 
ports; the greater part from the Hellespont and the Euxine. 

The development and protection of this trade and the control 

of the retail narket were objects of especial eeire. In all the wars the 

control of the critical posts on the grain route was a constant aia; 

colonies were sent out to points where they eoiild hoth protect the route 

and become producers; in time of war grain fleets were convoyed by 

2 
triroBiss (cp. 19,50). All eiq^ort of grain frwfs Attica was prohibited. 



1. We have an Inscription from Eleusis (CIA. II.834^)which gives the 

amount of betrlsy and wheat received as the Eleuslnlan tax from Attica 
and the cleruchlss, SalaidSv^tftluios, and Imbros, for the year 329/8 B.C. 
f« know that this tax was on»-3izth of one per cent on -ttie i^ole pro- 
duction of barley, and one* twelfth of one per cent on the wheat 
(CIA. 1. 27^ ). From this it has been oonputed that the soil of Attica 
and the cleruchies gave the people of Attica for their own consuaiption 
in the following year about 600,000 med. of ©fain. A stateKiont of 
Demosthenes (20.31 f .) in 355 B.C. ixq>lia8 that the ia^torts of grain 
at that time amounted to about 800,000 med. a year. While these data 
as to home and foreign grain are twenty-seven years apart, they may 
be taken as giving am approximate ratio for the two sources of supply. 
(See Meyer, Forschungen zur alten Geschlchte,II.190 ff.) 
2. Scholium on Demos. 24.136. 



{>f iT^r t-it <-5':c?":!'a « ftaeijeiq oi 












;i;i:«i(j ®a5oa»8 fen-- 






cewred as mriXoiiaS 



^"^-^ 



and DO eltiiaa or oietio vaa allowod to carry grain from any source to any 

plac9 save Attica^ ^ or to land money on grain cargoes destined to other 

2 
ports. 

The laportation was in the hands of wholesale dealers^ at the 

Piraeus, Their business with that of the wholesale aarket in general^ was 

under the control of a board of ten Superintendents of the Market. 

3 
These officers kept records of all grain imported^ and enforced 

the law that of every cargo of grain two thirds iruBt be taken frcn the 

4 
Piraeus v^ to Ihe city. 



1. [Demos.] 34. 37,35. 50; Lyourg. 27. 

2. [DetBOS.] 35« 50 ff, 

3. Dem. 20. 32. 

4. Arist. Resp. Ath. 51. 4, ... . This most asan that the ioporters at 

the Piraeus were obliged to sell immediately two thirds of every cargo 
to the retailers of the city proper (cp. filamowits, Aristotle u. 
Athen, I. 220 n. 68. Busolt, Gr. AlteV.^ p. 245). In this way the 
inporters were allowed to bold enough in th«ir warehouses to provide 
for emergencies, but prevented from holding back a stock sufficient 
to corner the market. The reading ... in Barpocration ... (now 
corrected by the text of Arist.) led Boeokh to interpret this as 
meaning that of every cargo of grain brought by foreign merchants 
to the Piraeus only one third could be shipped on to other ports, a 
mistake which had become current in our handbooks before the dis- 
covery of Aristotle *8 treatise. 



•\ 









^<-f.T .r 



#fi S'lsa" --i fl«effif *«i?ffl , . . . ,k:*#. 



'» M'' .' tl- * * «i» ..: , 






91-M 



The whole reftail grain trade was supervised tj a board of 
(k'ala CowBlssloners; of their appointment and duties we Isarn as 
follows fro« Aristotle (Rasp. 1th. 51. 3):« \ 

"There were formerly ten sitophj lacs [Grain Cootmissioners ^ 
appointed by lot« five for the Piraeus^ and five for the oity^ but now there 
are twenty for the city, and fifteen for the Piraaes. They see, first, that 
the unground grain in the market is offered at a reasonable price ; secondly, 
that the millers sell the barley meal at a price proportionate to that of 
barley^ and that the bakers sell their loaves at a price proportionate to 
that of wheat, and of such wei^t as the commissioners may prescribe ( for 
the law requires then to fix the wei#it)." 

Thus the government followed the grain at every step from its 
reception in -the Piraues to the home of the consumer. 

In special emergencies the people were not content with merely 
restrictive measures, but they elected a boaurd of sitoni food Commissioners 3 
to buy grain and sell it to the people at a reasonable prices At the first 

meeting of the Ecclesia in every prytauiy a part of the routine business was 

2 
the consideration of the grain supply. 



1. Boeokh^ Staatshaushaltung I, iii; Dem. 18. 248; CU. II. Nos. 335,353. 
2.. Afljtt, Resp. Ath. 43. 4. 



: deivsvqsfe 8«v ^ti-^ti BiBt^, iiMHt eX-rxiai eciT 
:• :<•:•■:. I •• v 'Bt>l&vb t( oqqjB ni: 

/7f ©fiiiq s tfl XaetE teX^usG ©ii* XX«c e-st/X^e silt *pri? 
■if f^^aaol^qonci asi'xq « *« aev«oX ilerf* IXes $iieietf etit *. 

** . (i- ,ig .. !^ s? sdJ" xil of «9rff P«!r:it;3:oi i?fiX ertJ 



c^,? io uci'^itLXuaj'i 






LIBRARY bF CONGRESS 
WASHINGTON 






Legislative Reference 



k.,f 



r. 



Division 



<^ 



(^ ^ The agoranomoa, according to the [Leyden] papyrus, waa a market 
overseer, a kind of peace magistrate and conciliator, exercising his authority 
particularly in the matter of sales transacted in his presence smd subscribed 
by him or his subordinates; there was the same practice with regard to con- 
tracts which the Egyptians made aisong themselves in the Greek manner. This 
magistrate, it would appear, had his official residence in the metropolis 
of his district. Since it is hardly probably that the agoranomos of the 
district capital would leave home every tinie there was a contract elsewhere 
to be approved, we must expect to find boards of agpranomoi for the various 
districts, }ust as there were district offices for the registry of mis- 
cellaneous contracts. These substitutes, no doubt, are the respresentatives 
of the agoranomoi whom we find mentioned as settled in the districts or the 
toparchies. One easily recognizes the G-reek character of this magisU'acy; 
the agoranomos of the Lagide [or Ptolemaic i.e. Greek] dyneisty recalls the 
Hellenic agoranomoi by his title as also by his duties - supervising all 
retail jbrade; examining goods offered for seile, weights emd measxires, dis- 
putes between seller and buyer, and contracts of apprenticeship. It is 
probable that this magistracy, first instituted and developed in those 
Egyptian cities which were wholly Greek as to inhabitants and government^, 
namely Haucratis, Ptolemais and Lycopolis, extended thence throughout Egypt 
in proportion as commerce grew and the Lagides altered the commercial law. 



'--.:±rirs a^ ^iiairssx© ^-ioi^Slssos tss& ^s-.:&i^^ sdaef lo teli « ^leesieTo 

STSifvsals ^s-:xz9£ £ &^ e-'xe^ eocxt t»t« »3pci ctasI iXiss* £stlq&z ^sii^si- 

"913^ ^ T^s^-*! e^ "V^ senile tii's^ax^ e79v e-^at as ^-ssi ^a^ax^i^axi 

„ — --, _ .__ _ ::teflAiiaE^ - - ^c^::^ssna^6 tat Iz 

■:£t tlLac^t ji^^^- Cie«'^ -v.^ aldea&Xst? -aoj eiis&l sift Ic t{>aoasic^ 9:£^ 

XXa ^alsiiTisf^'s - aBmre aiff ^d 9«Xs 8£ eX#l^ &Xii Ttf laaoc^-TCis :^:^e-: 7- 

-zlz iS^TTssts :ci &^^l$v «sXa« ^al ^e^«ilo »^sc3 ^gxif^wre ;«»£':£? li&tei 

b^bsttxt tS2Xc«»3Xa iss ei.ae8Xor? ^ax^£T3.jiC fie 2^2 



The etgnth T-orin papTr-is interna -Jia, :5sii9«, ^r^^ "iisre ^5^ at licrpclia 

sin agorascxcs fcr foreigners. 5cv, it is icncv:: that ir At':i:a i)cx>-citl2 3&£ 

had to pay the agorar^oBoi a tax fixed sy lav fcr tJis priTilege sf ':ei£.g 

peniitted tc trasz^ct business; trat the Athenia&s had officials q^att &8 

nautod Ijca i^ admiralty aagiatratea^ vho also toox cogiixance of a^tiocJ 

a^inst foreigners. Perhaps, in con8»quen:e of the considerable inflaz of 

straagars intc igypt during the Sresk epoch, these functions say haTe seco*6 

sufficiently extecaiTe and i»ortant to warrant the lastituticn of a special 

agoranoaoa for foreigners? Reason fcr celiering sc is found is a p^yiMS 

financial writing of Dlospolis. 

translated fro« 

Luabroso, Siacoao. Keener shes sur L'econcsis poli^^ue 
de I'lgypte sous las I&iii*«. :-irin, 1='^0. p. 245-24=, 



i 



ROKAN EMPIRE. 



I 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
WASHINGTON 



Legislative Reference Division 



To conssrve the supplies of the Roman State there were 

inmense etorehouaes at Rome and at Ostia, From the time of the Gracchi, 

the public granaries were devoted to grain sold by the governinent at a 

low price; Caesar rebuilt them for the same pxirpose. Under the Qnpire 

their number increased in proportion to the growing iB5»ortance of the 

food supply. The iirperial storehouses were at first administered by ;>^ 

freedmen and slaves of the ingperial household. Gradually, however, 

their administration developed various guilds j 

Extracted from: ^N^ n^ 

Waltzing, J.P.Xfitude historique sur les corporations 
profesiionnelles chez les Remains, Louvain, 1896jj v.2. 
p. 65-78. 



The next step is to show how the grain was distributed or sold, 
TOien monthly distributions of grain were succeeded by daily distributions 
of bread, the gu-ild or corporation of bakers acquired first-class importance. 
From the time of the republic thev4ediles had fulfilled the duty of seeing 
that the people could buy bread of good quality at moderate prices; with 
this end in view, they itade contracts with the baJcsrs. The Emperors did not 
stop with supplying grain to the capital, but encouraged the baking trade, 
which was too much despised to be very numerous. Between the reigha.of 



HOTOMtHSAW 



Alexander Severus and Aurelian the authorities began to distribute bread ^"■^■"-^ 
instead of grain. The number of bakers increased, as they were charged 
with making bread and distributing it to the people. It vyas the same way 
in Constantinople. 

In the fourth century the corporation or guild of bakers 
beceune entirely public servants. They made two kinds of breads the "bread 
of the steps" (panis gradilis) or cheap bread, which they distributed 
gratuitously in the two capitals^ and the fiscal or treasury bread (panis 
fiscalis), called also the Ostia bread (panis Ostiensis), v,'hich they sold at 
a low price to the people of Rome, and, after Theodosius II, to those of 
Constantinople. To make the bread which they sold at a low price, they 
bought the^ain cheaply from the shipmasters and from the measiirers who 
had charge of the granaries at Ostia, To preserve the grain when bought, 
they had their own storehouses at Rome and at the port. With the purpose of 
averting famines, Theodosius the Young created at Constantinople a wheat 
fund. 

The vreight and the quality of the bread were fixed. The prefect 
of the food supply had the duty of visiting the bakeries to exercise 
control. 

As for the buildings, at an unknown period they were placed at the 
disposal of the bakers by the State. In the fourth century there were in 
Rome 258 public bakeries; at Constantinople 10 are termed "public" and 
120 "private." The work included the grinding, the kneading into dough, 
and the cooking. 




There ia no infonaation as to the method where bread was sold. 

For the free distribution there were in every district of the two capitals 

platforais ascended by steps (hence the expression before noted). They were 

near the bakeries, and each bakery had one or more to supply. Upon these 

platforms were placed bronze tables bearing the names of those entitled to 

the bread, with the quantity. The lists were prepared by a clerk of the 

prefect of food supply. Every person had his own bench seat, which he 

wae not permitted to change. He had to be provided with his tessera or 

token-cube, serving the purpose of a ticket. This tessera could be sold or 

transmitted to heirs. 

Extracted from; 

Ibid. p,7&-86. 

In Rome under the Emperors administrative aurrangesaents were 

also made, vising the various guilds or trade bodies, to assure the sale, 

at low or Bioderate prices, of oil (likewise distributed gratuitously), 

of meats, and of wine. 

Extracted from: 

Ibid. p. 86-101. 



mae 



Sfi, 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
WASHINGTON 



Legislative Reference Division 



Edict of 
Dioclstian 
301 A.D. 



An edict issued by the Emperor Diocletian and his 

colleagues in 301 A.D, sought to impose a limit on excessive prices. 

It denounced the cupidity of dealers and speculators and declared 

that the Emperors could not ignore the evils created thereby. Acc©rd- 

ingly this edict, covering over a thousand items, was graven on stone 

or marble and set up in all the provinces. The schedule fixed a 

maximum.but did not forbid lower prices. Included in it, naturally, 

were all the principal articles of food. 

Extracted from: 

Levasseur, Pierre E. Histoire des classes 
ouvrieres et de 1' Industrie en France avant 
1789. Paris, 1900. v. 1. p. 112, 113, 118, 119. 

The edict of Diocletian 301 A.D., which fixed aaxifflum prices 



for goods and for labour is the moat striking example of such regula- 
tion. A table of maxiauB prices was prescribed and punishment pro- 
vided for violations thereof. (The avarice of merchants caused unen- 
durable hardships, thus making such an edict necessary.) 

Palgpave, R.H.I, Dictionary of Political Economy, vol. Ill, p. 190. 



S33HOMOO ■=10 YflAHS! 
MOTiOMIH3AW 



noisivlQ sonsialaR evI^elsieaJ 



:r« rio T3-, 



■^■•B bos eXui.. 



•' , TTumlxeat 



Appendix III. 



rom: 

Abbott. The Conanon Peoole of Rome. 



Diocletian's Edict. 
It io very difficult to trunalate then into intelligible English, 
but some conception of their style and contents may be had from one or 
two extricte. In explaining the situation which confronts the v/orld, 
the Emperor writes: "for, if the raging avarice . . . which, v.ithout 
regard for mankind, increases and develops by leaps and bounds, we will 
not say from year to year, month to month, or day to day, but almost 
from hour to hour, md even from minute to minute, could be held in 
cheek by some regani for moderation, or if the welfare of the people 
could calmly tolerate this mad license from which, in a situation like 
this, it suffers in the worst nossible fashion from day to day, some 
ground would appear, perhaps, for concealing the truth and saying nothing; 
...but inasmuch as there is only seen a mad desire without control, to 



pay no heed to the needs of thti many, ... it seems good to us, as we look 
into the future, to us who are the fathers of the people, that justice 
intervene to settle matters impartially, in order that that which, long 
hoped for, humanity itself could not bring about may be secured for the 
common government of all by the remedies which our care affords. ... ^o 
is of so hardened a heart and so untouched by a feelinr^ for humanity that 
he can be unaware, nay that he has not noticed, that in the sale of wares 
which are exchanged in the market, or dealt vith in the daily business of 
the cities, an exorbitant tendency in prices has spread to such an extent 
that the unbridled desire of nlundering is held in check Veither by abundance 
nor by seasons of plentyl" 
ktb 



If we did not knoiF that this was found on t8d)let8 sixteen centuries 
old, we ndght think that vre were reading a newspaper diatribe against 
the cold-storage plant or the beef trust. What the Emperor has decided 
to do to remedy the situation he sets forth toward the end of the intro- 
duction. He says: "It is our pleasure, therefore, that those prices 
which the subjoined written suinnary specifies, be held in obsenrance 
throughout all our domain, that all nay knovr that license to go above the 
sane has been cut off. ... It ia our pleasure (also) that if any oan shall 
hare boldly come into conflict with this formal statute, he shall put his 
life in peril. ... In the same peril also shall he be placed who, irawn 
along by avarice in his desire to buy, shall have conspired against these 
statutes. Nor shall he be esteemed innocent of the same crime v,ho, having 
articles necessarjr for dailv life and use, shall have decided hereafter 
that they can be heli back, since the punishment ought to be even heavier 
for him who causes need than for him vho violates the laws." 

The lists v;hich follow are arranged in three columns which ^ive 
refrpectively the article, the unit of measure, and the rrice. 

e(entum) 
sexa(o;inta) 
centu(nj) 
quinquaginta 

The first item (fxnimentum) is wheat, which is sold by the K M (kastrensis 

Hjodius s 18-1/2 quarts), but the price is lacking. Barley is sold by the 

kastrensis modius at centum (centum denarii - 43 cents) and 30 on. 
1. The method of arrangement may be iilustr.ited by an extract from the 
first table, which deals v,'ith grain itnd vegetables. 



ktb 



Frumenti 


K U 


Hordei 


K H umuD 


Centenum sive s^icale 


n N n 


llili ris*i // 
Mili integi^ 


H ft n 


It n 



PRANKISH ii:?!PrRi:. 



The capitulary (oi* royal decree) of Frankfort, ir 794, fixes 

the price of 12 loaves of bread at one denier- Pwelatively speaking, 

industrial products appear higher-priced than those of agriculture. On 

the other hand, the comparatively unskilled trades, like that of the 

bakers, receive little consideration; the capitularj' of 794 fixes at four 

deniers both 96 pounds of grain and 96 pounds of bread. 

Extracted from: ,^^,,j^^^ ^^'du. -^\~<=u^t?v^ --- 't— ^<^ ^...-^w^ ^~t «t 

Ibid. p. 199. ^"-r-...^;^ ,=...<. >/ X >= i'3--"3 ,('«•. "T- 
Uune, 794.) 

Acii4|Pn of tha Council oT Frankfort fixing maximum prices on 

grain and bread. 

Source; 



Fagniez, l^. Gustave. Documents relatif a I'histoii 
de I'iniustrie et du commerce en France, XIV et XV 
siecles. Paris, 1898. v. 1. p. 48. 

^ial of '*^« edict of February 1304 due to Philippe IV. of France and of a 

Philippe IV. ^ ,,^^ ... ^ . ^ J. 

1304, subsequent ordinance the following B>onth March 1304 irhich aimed to prevent 

popular alarm and monopolies. This ordnance concerning "the aaxim'o** 

restricted^ under penalty of confiscation of property, selling wheat, v 

beans, barley, oats and braa, etc., at more than a prescribed number of sa^^s. 

Blanqui, Jerome-Adalphe., (Tr. E. J. Leonard.) History of 
Political Economy in Europe. 1830. p. 169-169. 
VADoux T.ne year a^juo.; 

The commissioners on the price of bread, representing both the 

quarters of the city and the guilds, require that the bakerg of Paris 

shall furnish bread at a price proportionate to what it costs thej». 

Source: / 

Ibid. V. 2. Paris, 1900. p. 6. 

(July 7, 1307.) 
An ordinance of Philip the Fair prescribing regulations for 
trade in foods and other objects of prime necessity. Bread is to be 
sold only by weight. Various checks upon akers, innkeepers and others 
are ordered. 

Source: 

Ibid. p. 8. 



.v.st. 



, v; 9...,^vf. ^ 



11^ 



FRAXE. 



I 



Laborers having become scarce because of the plague of 
1348, ir February, 1351, King John of France published a long ordinance 
in which he fixed the rate of all wages for the viscounty of Paris. 
The price of the loaf of bread, the weight before and after cooking, 
the quality of the flour, were also fixed. It v/as made a general 
rule that any dealer selling merchandise bought by him, without adding 
value by labor, should not charge a greater profit than two sous in 

the livre. 

Extracted from: |_?>/ /i s s^u .- T^i e- r re i> 

Ibid. p. 501. 

a niumeipai oramance oi v/onai regunxxnf^ xne weignt and the price 

of bread by the v/orth of the grain. 

Source: 

Ibid. p. 292. 
Royal edicts of the period 1567-1583 echoed popular complaints 

against the high cost of commodities. The price of firewood ir Paris 

was a subject of special attention, as were also the charges made by 

innkeepers. Regulations covering these matters were framed. An edict 

of 1577 inveighed against the exportation of grain. 

Extracted from: \- f ^^a ^ s-e*- >-^"T^ie f re -L->. 
Ibid. V. 2. p. 60. 

John the Good had issued his ordinance because of the higher 
prices of merchandise and the increase of wages following the plague; a 
similar rise ir prices, caused by the discovery of America, produced the 
ordinance of 1567. But Charles IX was not attacking a monopoly. He 
contented himself with fixing the price of certain goods and services, 
decreeing, m<fr5over, that even^ three months the price of victuals and 
produce should be determined, and that the sworn officials of each trade- 
should unitedly oppose»any increase or change.' 

Translated from: 

Ibid. p. 138. 
ktb -2- 



Colbert showed a sincere desire to relieve the sikeQI farmers. 

But the incessant changes of the tariff on cereals and the restrictions 

(as to exportation) on coranerce in grains, at times for all Fiance, at 

times for certain provinces, heid the effect of greatly depreciating 

their value. 

Extracted from: 

Ibid. p. 206. 

The policy of Colbert which sought to feed the people and 

assure cheap bread to industrial workers, restricting and at times 

forbidding the exportation of grain and even its transportation from 

one province into another, had been injurious to agriculture. Eetv/een 

1664 and 1674 grain was almost always at a low price. The peasants, 

with heavy taxes to pay, lived wretchedly. Some, lacking even black 

bread, lived on fern roots boiled with ground barley or oats, and salt. 

In their homes extreme raiserj' prevailed. 

Extracted from: 

Ibid. p. 350-351. 

Farmers, who in the first half of the 18th centurj' had suffered 
from low prices and money circulation troubles, found themselves in a 
better condition after the Seven Years War. Freedom of internal trade 
in grain was formally permitted by the proclamation of May 25, 1763; the right of 
exportation was inserted in the edict of July, 1764, though afterwards 
modified. The price of grain rose, whether because the outlet was a little 
more open, or because of a growing population ir the cities rendered 



ktb 



-3- 






more prosperous by industrial development, or because money had been 

lowered in value by the expanded production of Uexican mines. 

Translated from: 

Ibid. p. 550. 

While a succeseion of decrees (1774-1776) removing restrictions 

upon internal trade in grain and flour had been favorably received, Necker 

went further vith a panqphlet favoring intei^rention by the government to 

cheapen bread. The T/ork had a resounding success. 

Extracted from: 

Ibid. p. 616-617. 

The price of bread in Paris did not rise in proportion to the 

price of grain, because the municipality made great efforts to lower it 

from 16 sous 4 deniers, which had been the nomal price in June, 1789, 

to 13 sous, then to 12, amd finally to 10 in October, 1790. It was not 

thus in all the provincial cities. 

Translated from: 

Ibid. p. 844-845. 



ktb 



. ™ 



rational 
^onvantlon 
lets 1793. 



In France In 1798 ths oommittee on subsiatenea presented to 

the National Convention the result of the disoussions on the maximius to be 

fixed i^on for the various coamodltles of prljne necessity. They chose 

as a general baiia for prices the respective values of provisions as they 

were in 1790. The National Convention thttn decreed the articles which it 

Judged to be ef prime necessity^ and of which it deemed it best to fix 

the maximum or the highest price. 

Blanqui, Jerome-Adalphe (Tr. Emily J, Leonard) History of 
Political Economy in Eixrope. 1880. p. 170 footnote. 



mas 



jitej-Sf 



/, 



E5GUSII. 



^^.1 J^ 



Sea aleo appendix III. 
During the time of Hanry II. 11S4«1189 prohibitions of engrossing 
and retailing had in view the prevention of speculatire transactions by 
er>?atiBg artificial scarcity of com. IThen the price of com had adjusted 
itself in the open Barket^ a sliding scale could be used to adjust the 
price of breadf so that ths baker would get a profit amd the public would 
be supplied at rates which were not excessive. This sliding scale was 
known as the "Assise of Bread." 

Cunningham, W. The Growth of English Industry smd Commerce. 

Early and Ivliddla Ages. 151C. p, 250. 

While the plague was raging in 1349 in England the ^ing, 
Edward III, issued a proclaaiation fixing wages and prices. It was thought 
that prices were so closely connected with wages that they seemed good 
ground for expecting that if wages were forced down to their old level 
the abnormal prices would no longer be dMuinded. Both the proclauaation 
(23 Ed. I IT.) and subsequent statutes attemnted to regulate prices and 
wages together. 

Cunninghaa, W. . The growth of English Industry and Comtssree. 

Early a^d L'iddl©' Agas. 1910. p. 333^335. 

i>urin^ the reign of Ed ard I the price of wine was fixed in 
England and again la Edward II 's reign 1353 regulatieas wers desi^od to 
strike at the profits of middlemen, in the vain hope that wine would be 
rendered cheaper. 

Ibid. 318-19. 

regulating the price of labour, statutes which were enacted and re-enacted from 



ktb 



Sos also appendix III. 
During the time of Hani7 II, 1154-1189 prohibitions of engrossing 
and retailing had in view the prevention of speculative transactions "bj 
creating artificial scarcity of com. Vlhon the price of com had adjusted 
itself in the open market^ a sliding scale could 1»e used to adjust the 
price of bread, so that the baker would get a profit amd the public would 
be supplied at rates which ware not excessive. This sliding scale was 
known as the "Assise of Bread.** 

Cunningham, V. The Growth of English Industry and Comsierce. 

Early and '/lidile Agas. 1910. p, 250. 



While the plague was raging in 1349 in England the ^ing, 
Edward III, issued a proclaoation fixing wages and prices. It '■?as thought 
that prices were so closely connected with wages that they seemed good 
ground for expecting that if wages were forced down to their old level 
the abnormal prices would no longer be demanded. Both the proclamation 
(23 Ed. III.) and subsequent statutes attem^^ted to regulate prices and 
wages together. 

Cunningham, W. , The growth of English Industry and Commeree. 

Early a-nd Middle- Ag33. 1910. p. 333,325. 

Dtirina, the reign of Ed ard I the price of wine was fixed in 
England and again ia Edward II 's reign 1353 regulatieas were desisnod to 
strike at the profits of middlemen, in the vain hope that wine would be 
rendered cheaper. 

Ibid. 313-19. 



'^^1 



From: 

Palgrave, R-H. Inglis. Diction&rif of Political 
Econonsy. London. 1894, p. 64-65. 

ASSIZE OF BREAD AKD BEER. In the collection of ancient acts of parlia- 
nent, two are always cited as of indefinite antiquity, neither reign nor 
date in which they were first enacted or promulgated being given, or indeed 
discoverable. These are the statute on weights and measures, and the assize 
of bread and beer. It is highly probable that these statutes are decl&ratorj'' 
of ven'' ancient euetom, and were necessarily reduced to a form because they 
each represent Irules exhibited in figures. They are constantly copied in those 
legal handy books which lawyers possessed and referred to, and of which some 
still survive, dating occasionally from the 13th centurj'. It was at first 
the duty of the local court (that of the manor), to enforce the-assize, and 
the records of those courts contain frequent entries of fines levied on 
those offenders who had broken the assize. 

The assize of bread and beer is drawn up in the form of a sliding 
scale, the price of the unit (in bread, the weight of the unit) van/ing with 
the price of grain by the quarter, wheat and malt as the case may be, information 
as to the price having been easily procurable from market rates* The scale of 
prices goes beyond recorded experience of cheapness or dearness, at least 
as far as the v/riter has registered prices. The assize was therefore a ref^ulatioK 
by ancient custoir. or law of the rate at which baker and brewer should be 
remunerated for the service which their l-:i.bour did to society. The uniformity 
of this practice was the justification for other and subsequent statutes 
regulating the price of labour, statutes which were enacted and re-enacted fr<an 



ktb 



iirA 



1349 till 1824, at which latter date the labour statutes were repealed 
en masse. After the discipline of the manor court had become obsolete, the 
assize of bread and beer was enfoi-ced in quarter sessions uncertainly, but 
by the corporations of towns regularly into the last quarter of the 18th 
centurj'^, the archives of these corporations constantly supplying evidence 
of wheat and malt prices. The asnize of bread and beer proves indirectly 
that the traditional food of the English was wheaten bread and their drink 
barley beer, for the assize was a lav? v^hich was operative all over England 
from the Scottish border to the Channel. It is to be observed that, except 
on very rare occasions, the legislature or the govemment did not affect 
to fix the price of the materials, v^heat and malt, as foreign governments, 
especially that of France, habitually did. The regulation, too, was 
avowedly in the interest of consumers, for the rolls of parliament and the 
statute-book supply abundant evidence of the anxiety v.'ith which the govern- 
ment foresaw and provided against artificial dearness. Later experience 
has inferred that their remedies rere nugatorj', or even mischievous, but 
there can be no doubt as to their motives. In brief, the assize of bread 
and beer had the Scune object with the laws directed against badgers, 

forestallers, and regrators, viz. the protection of the consumer. 

J. E. T. P. 

ASSIZE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 

Besides the assize of bread and beer, weights and measures, and the 

articles themselves which were thus computed, were subject to similar 

legislation. Thus inkeepers, licensed victuallers, vintners, butchers, and 

others were subject to regulations of the same class. The "inholders" 



ktb 



\\ 



were to use measures "a small quantity bigger than the standard" to 
allow for the "workicg and ascending of the Yest and Froth," and, v;ith 
the "Cooks and Victuallers," were "forbidden to bake, seeth, or roast, 
any "Pish or Flesh twice or sell and utter unto the subjects any manner 
of corruptible Victuals, which may be to the hurt and the infection of 
Man's body" - their "excessive price" was guarded against, and a scale 
appointed at v.'hich horses were to be received "to Livery at Hay and 
Litter by Day and Night." If the price of hay was 31s. 6d. a load, the 
calculation was as follows: - 

"Then if the Botal of Hay shall weigh three Pounds for a halfpenny, 
which is six Pound for one penny, and so 18 Pounds of Hay for three pence, 
the which 18 Pounds of Hay with reasonable Provender at everj? watering, will 
suffice one Horse Day and Night." The rate for litter being fixed in 
proportion, it was considered that the "Inholder" would have "sufficient 
gain." The rates were to vary according as the price of the "Load of Hay 
shall yearly increase and dimitil shed. "The rules for the butchers were more 
psurticulari These were "most carefully looked into and provided for by good 
euad ancient Orders and Laws of this Realm, and also by Advice of the 
learned and skilful Physicians of the same;" - the Butchers were to take 
the utmost care that the meat was to be wholesome, they were not to "kill 
and sell any Bull or Bulls unbaiten." The weight also v as to be exact and 
true. They were not to "sell their Flesh, with any Beam or Balance inclining 
more unto one end than to the other"; "Musty and Corrupted Meat" was also 
strictly guarded against. Similar regulations were also extended to other 
articles. "The Assize of Fuel, to be observed in the City of London, 



ktb 






de 



■t*«-« 



\ 



minister, 



I 



Westminister, and the suburbs of the same," fixed the size and weight 
of the sack of charcoal, the billet, and the faggot, requiring each 
"Faggot-band to contain in length three foot, and the Band of every such 
Faggot to be 14 inches about, besides the knot." Among the punishments 
for these offences was the pillorj', the fraudulent butcher to be exposed 
there, and "his corrupt flesh to be burnt openly before his place in 
the Market-place," the fraudulent seller of fuel with a "Billet, Faggot, 
or Sack of Coals bound to some part of his body." Besides articles of 
this class, building materials were subject to similar regulations; the 
dimensions of lath, timber, and tiles were strictly laid dovn, and directions 
even given as to the manner in which the earth of which the tiles were made 
was to be worked. These regulations, together v/ith those which regulated 
the assize of bread and beer, may be found described in The Assize of Bread 
and other Assizes of Weights and Measures, to which the name of John Powel, 
clferk of the market, originally of the King's (James I.) household, is 
attached. Reference is made in this to the order in council 31st January 
1604, In which the whole question was reconsidered. The edition from 
which the quotations made above are made contains references to the early 
acts of parliament, etc., and is dated 1714. It is interesting as giving 
incidentally a vivid picture of "state regulation" in early ages. 



ktb 



<3i.l i^<ji.' . 



maaa si' l^i'UJO^ zImqZ lo :gs&k 



doxriw 



// 



Smart, Williaju. Ecorosiic Arjiie of the 
Mireteenth Century. 1801-1820, 
1910, p. 440-441. 



Abolition of Assize of ^^ad. 

The price of the loaf in Londor had long been a subject it * • 

1815, 
complaint, and, in April, ^a committee was appointed to consider the 

existing laws regulating the Assize of Bread, and also to consider 

whether or not it vas expedient to have any established* Assise. The 

Report, presented in June, gave no uncertain sound. The Assisa Paris 

et Corvisiae, prescribing a scale for regulating the price of the loaf 

by the price of wheat, dated back to the reign of Henrj' III., when its 

purpose appears to have been to regulate the charges and profits of 

bakers. In 1735, the bedcers carried the alteration that the Assize should 

be eet by the price of flour* The Committee, pointing out that competition, 

eiren under the discouragement of an Assize, bad already removed part of the 

evil, and that bread was cheaper in places where there v.-as no such regulution, 

reported that any remedy to the evils arising from the Assize could hardly 

be brought about by an alteration in the law, and came to the resolution 

that it was expedient that the Bread Assize laws for the City of .London 

and within ten miles of the Royal Exchange should be forthwith repealed. A 

Bill to this effect v/as accordingly brought in and passed - greatly aided by a 

petition in its favour f,rom 800 master bakers. The effect of the repeal was 

that, though the bakers were still obliged to c^ive the same weight as formerly 

to each denomination of loaf, the price was left to competition. 



ktb 



:i:-;:ci'i:-' ncjj^ o 



From: 

Cunningham, W, The Growth of English 
Industry and Conmerce. Cambridge. 
1912, p. 317-319. 



The impracticability of providing shelter for the largeiy increased 
population was only one of the problems to be faced. There vere con- 
siderable difficulties in obtaining a sufficient supply of corn; King 
James had encouraiged the erection of grsinaries for the storing of 
foreign corn, to be used for home consumption or re-exportation , and at 
a later time an ingenious projector named Yarrarton proposed the 
formation of granaries, similar to those which served the requirements 
of continental towns, at which corn might be collected in Oxfordshire 
and Northamptonshire, and brought by river to London. No effort seems 
to have been made to put this scheme into effect, and there is reason to 
believe that municipal attempts to set the price of bread were falling 
-into abeyance. The problem appears to have been becoming 



1. Proclamation, 1623, For the Well Storir<T and furnishing of the 
Realme v;ith Come, Brit. Kus. 21. h. 1 (14). 

2. England's Improvement, 114-138 (1677). 



ktb 



':^al&aos 



■ -J, , ^.. . " 



1 TT • 

insoluble , and it was conanonly believed that the '{difficulty of procuring 

would sooner or later set an insuperable obstacle to the further increase 

2 
of the city; but Petty , who made this forecast, did not foresee the 

immense improvements of coimiunication which have been brought about 

by modern applications of steam power* 



1. John Powell, Clerk of the Market, testifies to the difficulties that 
had arisen in 1600. "Forasinuch as divers Officers, by reason of their 
unskilfulness and want of knowledge, do rot afford the leakers such 
sufficient allowances therein as are answerable unto Kll the Charges of 
baking at thia day whereby some Questions ^e isade bet^'een the said Officers 
and Bakers co:-ceming that matter; I hav^ therefore at this present thought 
it good not only to revoke my said book dn respect of the said assize of 
bread only) md to my great pains and travel to publish this new book for 
the good jjid true Assize of all sorts of 6read." His new book seems to hare 
been found useful, for it was reprinted in 1621, 1626, 1630, 1632, 1636 
and 1671. But further changes were needed; the terms in which the settling 
of the assize of bread were enjoined, were found bo be no longer intelligible, 
and in 1709 (8 Anne, c. 18) a measure was passed which was more adapted 
to the times. In particular it arranged that the price of bread should var^r 
with the price of com, sjid not, as in fonuer days, that the weight of the' 
bread should be always changing. There was a further regulation irf'1757, at a 
time of very great scarcity, when all sorts of other cereals are mentioned 
besides wheat, and prices of bread, of oatmeal, n'e and pea-flour are pro- 
mulgated (31 G. 11. c. 29). On the working of this Act compeu-e the Report of 
1772 (Pari. Hist^vii. 555). This statute, however, only affected places where 
the assize v/as n¥t', as there were many where this practice had been discontinued, 
and the m,igistrates wore at no pains to revive it, another statute had to be 
passed a few years later for regulating prices ir places where the assize was 
not set (3 G. III.c. 11). The wisdom of the magistrates who did not attempt 
to carry out this mode of regulation was certairly confirmed by the experience 
of the London magistrates. During the great scarcity of 1757 they cut the price 
of bread as fine as possible, and made it follow everj' symptom of the diminished 
price of com (see C. Smith, Three Tracts on the Com Trade, ?8). In some cases, . 
even, they set it in anticipation of a further decline.. The result was that the 
greatest uncertainty prevailed umong those who had stocks of com and flour; and 
as a consequence the corn-factors and meal-merchar.ts actually were at the 
expense of withdrawing their stocks for sale elsewhere. In fact if the assize 
was set too high, the bakers had an unnecesearjr profit; iVit wtre set too low~ >-^ 
the factors did not bring corn and flour to the town; in either case there was 
a distinct disadvantage^? The only countervailing advantage was that the public 
were somewhat reassured by this authoritative declaration that the price they 
were paying was not altogether unreasonable, and were less likelv to Join in 
riots Ul G. II. c. 12) against corn-factors and bakers. See also House of 
Commons Report, 1795, Vol. ix. 
2. Hull, Economic Writings of Sir W. Petty, ii. 471. 



ktb 



■■ f 
Xcfra'equecti aa tsm t&^ai 10 'Saiioos aXuow 



Siid- floi --« Qtsw aegnjsrio len'-ttul *«€ .X?dX toB 

-. ■ :- ^ ^ - ' •■••e ©isw beeid lo asinec erft lo 

'• (SI .0 s8««sA 8) eOVX ni fens 

■^-swXs ©d ' ■" 



■<dt 019ti *0^ 'f9^,sX p- 



tiloia Tiara R&Qisrinw ns ba^ a'SSJbio 



.xi: .XoV ,e^' 



d« 



t?- 



AMERICAN COLONIAL. 



U.S. 

Colonial 

Period. 



Mass. 
Ctaiinlttea 
on Prices. 
Feb. 1776. 



Providence 
Convantioa 
Dec. 1776. 



Springfield 
Convention 
July 1777. 



Continental 
Congress . 



During the Colonial period of the United St*-t68 "An ac1; to 
prevent monopolies and oppression by excessive and unreasonable prices 
for osaay of the necessaries and convenisncssof life^" was introduced 

ia the General Assosibly of Connecticut, Hovei^ber 19,1776. It provided 
that prices of certain enumerated articles ehould not exceed, "the 



./ 



several sums hereafter mentioned." 

Records of the State of Connecticut, volif 1. p. 62. 
k subsequent act i»as passed by the Connecticut Greneral Assembly 
December 18,1776, amd the act of November repealed. 
Ibid. ^97. 
As early as Febx*uary 1776 a comadttee of the Uassachusetts 
Assembly was appointed, "to take into consideration the high prices of 
goods and recommend what action ou^t to be taken." 

On Dec* 25,1776 a convention of committees from New I^uxpshire, 
MaBsachvisetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut met at Providence, R.I. and 
on Dee* 31st, reported a scale of prices which they recommended for 
the several New England States. 

Jan. 35,1777 these recmamendations of the convention were 
accepted bodily in Massachusetts. (Province Laws, v. 583^0 

On July 30^1777 a second convention of committees from the 
New England States and New Tork met at Springfield, Mass. This convention 
recommended the repeal of so much of the monopoly acts as attempted to 
regulate prices. 

In Nov. 1777 the Continental Confess recommended that the states 
hold a convention for the purpose of regulating the price of labor, the 
charges of inn-holders, the prices of commodities, and for the provision 
of some power for the seizure of goods in the hands of engrossers and 
forestallers. 



■ae 



Hew Haven 

Convention 

1778. 



Hartford 

Convention 

1779. 



The convention which met at New Haven, January 15,1778 was 
called in answer to the racomrrendations of the Continental Congress* 
New H£unp8hire, Biassachusetts, Rhode lalsmd, Connecticut, Bow York, 
New Jersey and Pennsylvania were represented. After due deliberation 
the convention reported a scale of prices. This scale was adopted by 
several of the states hut not by all those represented at the conference. 

The next meeting of the states took place at Hartford, Conn., 
Oct. 20, 1779, at the instigation of the Massachusetts Assembly. Multi- 
plied emissions of continental bills they regardod to be the cause for 
abnoraal prices. They declared that a limitation of prices would have 
a tendency to prevent the further rise of provisions, but thought it 
desirable that all states as far "west" as Virginia should accede. to it. 
They, therefore, proposed that a convention of the New England States, 
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia 
should be held at Philadelphia. 

Publications of the Colonial Society of Mass. Vol. X.p. 119-132. 

■■-J 
A copy of the proceedings of the Ifertford Convention was laid before 

Congress, Nov. 10,1779 and on the 19th of that month Congress drew up a set 

of resolutions recommending laws for establishing and carrying oi;t a general 

limitation of prices, and commending the Hartford Convention. 

Records of the State of Connecticut. Vol.11, p. 562. 

Philadelphia The Philadelphia Convention met in January 29,1780 all states 

Convention 

178C. concerned being represented except New York and Virginia. The absence 

of these States prevented action, except that a committee was proposed 

to prepare a plan for the limitation of prices to be submitted to the 



Resolutions 
of Congress 
Nov. 17 79. 



«5 



conrentlon at its next seetlng. The motion for adjournment stated, in 
part: "It is the opinion of this convention, that any measure for vegu* 
lating prices, adopted without the oonc-rranoe of all the states proposed 
by the convention at Hartford, might prove ineffectual, "they, therefore, 
agreed to meet again in April at Philadelphia, 
Ibid. Vol. II, p. 578. 
Before the date set for the convening of the 2nd Philadelphia 
Convention, Congress had openly discredited the continental bills and 
recommended that the states reissue interest bearing state bills. From 
the time Congress discredited these bills, (March 1780), there was no 
more need of efforts to sustain the currency whether by plans for limiting 
prices or by other means. Prices would now take care of themselves, 
and be governed by natural laws, it was thought. 

The Philadelphia Convention never held its second meeting. 

Publications of the Colonial Society of Mass. Vol. 10, p. 134. 



m 



'iiiiiil 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 826 138 4 ^ 



